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Chapter 3 THE CHINESE IN RURAL AUSTRALIA
3.0 Introduction
As suggested by the bank records from Wilcannia and the Police
Commissioner's report mentioned in this chapter, quite large numbers of
Chinese, perhaps remnant of the influxes which coincided with the gold
rushes to Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern
Territory, were present in the far west during the earlier parts of the period
considered by my research. The contribution of individual Chinese to
European expansion has occasionally been acknowledged in accounts of
pastoral enterprise. little, however, has been written about the contribution
made by groups of Chinese, such as the pastoral labour gangs which
operated in the Riverina district during the late 19th Century, or the market
gardeners who operated in association with country towns or other
communities. Nor has much been written of the contribution made by the
Chinese as wool-scour labourers and in the performance of other menial
tasks.
At Milparinka the historical record of the Chinese presence is fragmentary
and extremely fragile, and the known archaeological record, which
compliments and illuminates the written one is only slightly more robust. In
combination the records suggest a group of ageing Chinese, growing
vegetables, and periodically involved in mining, on the margins of an
already marginal European community. There is also evidence of
adherence to traditions, and of involvement in other economic activities.
There is some evidence to suggest a continuation of persecution which
had commenced during the Victorian gold rush era barely forty years
before.
This chapter presents the outcome of background research into the
activities of the Chinese in rural New South Wales during the mid- to late
1800s. The objective is to present information about subsistence patterns
which I will suggest were replicated at Milparinka.
3.1 Background
3.1.1 Origins
Chinese first arrived in New South Wales well before the gold-rush era,
and in 1854 a parliamentary committee estimated two thousand four
hundred Chinese had by then been introduced into New South Wales
(Choy, 1975:18). Crowley (1980, Vol 2:309) indicates these immigrants
were employed as shepherds, and that they did not attract much attention.
However, with commencement of the gold rushes the numbers of Chinese
arriving increased quite dramatically, as has been documented many times
by others. Choy (1975:3) indicates the majority of Chinese arriving in